Tackling Karachi's Urban Waste the Gul Bahao Way

I have known Nargis Latif, the head of Karachi based NGO Gul Bahao for over a decade now. During this period, my views on her work have oscillated between fascination, frustration and bewilderment; fascination because her approach is always innovative; frustration because her work has not progressed from the level of a start-up despite a dozen or more years in the making; and bewilderment because, well, some of her ideas and products appeared borderline strange. But her tenacity, belief in herself and her commitment to the cause have never failed to impress.

So what is Nargis Latif's cause? Providing low-cost urban waste management solutions for Karachi. In a city of over 13m people (expected to reach nearly 20m by 2025) an estimated 9000 tonnes of solid waste is generated every day, presenting huge challenges for effective solid waste management. This challenge is compounded by the fact that at most 80% solid waste is collected for disposal and recycling; the severely restricted capacity of the municipal agencies--by their own admission they are only able to collect 50% of solid waste generated in their geographic jurisdictions--means that the for-profit and non-profit sectors involved in solid waste management are signficant market players. Enter NGOs such as Gul Bahao.

Launched in 1994, Gul Bahao has been experimenting with innovative, if not always scientifically sound, ways of managing solid waste. From humble beginnings of organising neighbourhood collections to launching Safai Kamai Bank (Garbage Bank) to products such as 'Fuel Pack' made from waste material and claimed to generate electricity to 'Chandi Ghar' (Silver Home) made from a combination of aluminium foil, panaflex and bamboo sticks, Gul Bahao has been constantly striving to come up with new solutions--and to keep itself both alive and relevant.

This effort--or compulsion--to constantly expand its product range before securing and scaling up its existing products is indicative of both the energy behind Gul Bahao as well as a reflection on the difficulties it faces in achieving financial stability through an established, sustainable product line. A lot of the initial work done by Gul Bahao has been financed through Nargis's own savings or the financial support provided by immediate family and friends. Local philanthropists have also contributed and allowed her to carry out research and do trial runs, while the Safai Kamai Bank (Gul Bahao bought dry waste from citizens, factories and companies and sold it onward to kabaris or small and medium sized waste collectors and recyclers) has allowed her to turn in revenues sufficient to keep the NGO going. But getting sustainable, secure lines of financing has been tough at best, with commercial banks simply not interested and city and town governments and IFIs (including projects financed by them) skeptical, non-committal and in some cases, condescending by turns; her being a woman (doing a man's job?) and clearly not belonging to the elite or bogus set (often one and the same thing) of NGOs--the one's run from drawing rooms by drawing upon connections and government largesse--didn't help matters. Nargis often came to me for help when I was the State Bank of Pakistan and later with the ADB and UNDP and I must admit that despite admiring her passion, believing in her work and providing some leads, I too failed to raise any funds for her.

And therein lies the reason why social enterprises like Gul Bahao have failed to scale up their operations and thus to have wider impact. With virtually no Angel financing, few venture capital firms and practically no support from the government, small social entrepreneurs are condemned to a state of unecominical operations, always struggling to juggle the tasks of retaining employees, research their products and market themselves. In fact, far from being helpful, the town governments in Karachi have been impediments, uprooting her waste collection banks and denying her permission to set up stalls in the city.

To carry on as Nargis and Gul Bahao have for such a long time in the face of relentless apathy from the public and private sectors, is admirable and a testimony to her commitment. I am very pleased to see though, that Gul Bahao and its driving force have begun to get due recognition, not that they hanker after it for personal reasons. Gul Bahao has been a labor love, but the spate of profiles and interviews, including by Telenor for their Karo Mumkin (Make it Happen) campaign, Newsline magazine's recent feature and blogs have helped raised its public profile.

But I fear that until social entrepreneurs like Nargis Latif gain access to adequate financing which in turn will enable access to quality personnel and research and development capacities, their work will forever fall short of their potential, while they will continue to be largely unsung heroes.

Because make no mistake, people like Nargis Latif truly are heroes.

World Environment Day 2010: Cause for Pause or Celebration in Pakistan?

So another World Environment Day has come and gone. Doubtless, our environmental managers at the federal and provincial Environmental Protection Agencies would have organised some workshops and/or walks. Commitment to putting a stop to environmental degradation and to achieve all the targets contained in the National Environmental Policy (yes, we have one) would have been routinely expressed, sans conviction and without any explanation of how these commitments would move off the pages of policy documents and transform into tangible results. A profound sense of deja vu hits one at these events. Same promises, different faces, same frustration at lack of outcomes despite considerable inputs.

There may be even greater cause for alarm this year.

First, a few days before World Earth Day, the provincial government of Punjab announced, quite shamelessly and with great fanfare, that it had decided to allot more than 30,000 acres of forest land to 'jobless youth' (no doubt a euphimism for political cronies) for agricultural use, along with seed money (pardon the pun) of Rs.900,000 each. Amendments in the Forest Act 1927 were made to enable this plan because the British-enacted legislation prohibited conversion or use of forest land for any other purpose. And all this happens in the background of warnings by experts about the alarming rate of deforestation in the country (second worst in the world according to one source) and the fact that more than 1.44m of agriculture land is lying unutilised in Punjab.

Second, the Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-2010 released yesterday paints a dim picture of, amongst other things, the state of environmental management in the country. Consider this: only 44% of the population has access to sanitation facilities; the level of particulate matters in major cities is nearly 4 times higher than safe limits (see Figure 1); 40% of all deaths and 60% of those of children are related to water borne diseases with only four cities (Karachi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Islamabad) equipped with water treatment plants, all workin under capacity and only the one in Islamabad meeting the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS); 92% of the industrial wastewater is dumped untreated into surface water resources like canals, rivers etc. Depressing is too mild a word to encapsulate the enormity of challenges.

And what of the industrial and corporate sector? Industries in Pakistan consume 23% of total water available and discharge around 9000 million gallons of wastewater from industrial activity into water bodies in Punjab and Karachi. Untreated. Daily. Nearly 70% of biological load is generated by textile and beverage industry with other notable (and habitual) partners in crime being the textile, tannery, paper and pulp.

Several positive initatives have emerged and often spearheaded from or facilitated by the public sector: the initiative to raise environmental awareness in schools, promotion of the use of CNG (Pakistan is the world's largest consumer of CNG according to the International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles, with 2.4m CNG-fueled vehicles as of the start of 2010) and moves for collaborative efforts to combat industrial pollution, such as the Effluent Treatment Plant in Korangi industrial area at Karachi, established at a cost of Rs500 million by a consortium of the government of Pakistan, the embassy of Netherlands, and Karachi’s district governments in addition to the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA); even the controversial amendment by the Punjab government in the Forest Act 1927 referred to above has a silver lining in the form of enhancing the lefine for various offences, including theft of forest wood from the previous level of up to Rs500 (yes Rs.500!!) to Rs.1 million. The industry itself has also tried to address the problem, including through the installation of water treatment plants (133 in Punjab, 207 in Sindh and 2 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). But there are miles to go and promises to keep for the private sector. Indeed, studies such as the one by the SDPI suggest that the only way to effectively tackle environmental issues such as deforestation, is for the private sector to come good on its CSR promises and practices.

The problem, as always, lies with the utter failure to implement plans. And the pain of that failure is hightened by hollow politico-speak and designer commitments to for e.g enhance forest cover in Pakistan from the existing level of 5.2% to 6% by 2015, uttered in photo-op events and then signing into law decisions that will go the exact opposite way.

Philanthropy On the Rise in Pakistan: Whither CSR?

Over the years, I have been struck by the inability of a segment of the corporate sector in Pakistan and almost all the bureaucrats, to distinguish between philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR). While one can expect bureaucrats to be lost betwixt the two (as they are with most other things), I find myself flummoxed for an answer as to why otherwise smart corporate managers do the same. Discussions on CSR often immediately veer off into talk of donations to one charity or the other; or this madrassa or another. This tendency to equate donations and charitable giving with CSR is stronger amongst local and smaller companies and can perhaps be linked to the ingrained religious concepts of giving and sharing of wealth, but it is also evident in some managers at MNCs and larger local firms. More importantly, in my view at least, it has clouded both the dialogue and the practice of CSR in Pakistan.

To my mind, this represents--and stems from--a failure of education and awareness about CSR. As a result, while philanthropy in general has doubled in value from Rs. 70b in 2000 to Rs.140b this year and as corporate philanthropy has seen a similarly impressive growth--touching Rs. 1.67b in 2007 from a low base of Rs. 228m in 2000--the growth of CSR in Pakistan does not compare favorably. One measure of this is that membership in the Pakistan Global Compact network comprises only 83 members. The number drops to only 55 if the local network's own website is to be trusted.

While there is nothing wrong with corporate giving, it is a subset of the broader notion of CSR. And as the global turmoil caused by irresponsible behaviour of managers across the world points to, the need of the hour is for corporate responsibility, not giving alone. Judging from the evidence, it appears Pakistani businesses may be taking the easy way out by doling out large sums of money, rather than adhering to ethical and more responsible modes of corporate action, right from sourcing to fair wages to better working conditions and occupational safety and health practices to using cleaner,environment-friendly production technologies.

The fact that this is not done, makes one wonder: is the rise in corporate philanthropy due to mere ignorance? Or is it a sort of corporate qisas and diyat--or blood money?

Calls for Stronger Monitoring of the Extractive Industry

Participants at a recent conference on the oil and gas sectors called for stronger legislation that empowers the government for assuming a stronger role in monitoring of extractive practices in these sectors. The range of recommendations was quite diverse and included providing provincial and local governments with a enhanced role in development of projects in their geographical jurisdictions, better oversight of CSR fund uses and reduction in 'payments' (read bribes) to fedual lords.

The oil and gas sector is an important part of the Pakistan economy, attracting substantial Foreign Direct Investment ($612m in 2008-2009). By most accounts, there is huge potential for expanding the size of this contribution and the Government has taken several measures to promote further investments including allowing for 100% foreign equity, easy repatriation of profits etc. (see www.boi.gov.pk for details). For all these efforts, critics including the Oxfam supported Participatory Development Initiative have argued that the extractive industry regularly and blatantly violates provisions for CSR as contained in the Petroleum Concession Agreements, which legally bind companies in the sector to undertake CSR activities in the regions where they are extracting oil and/or gas.

Civil society discontent against the extractive industry, both in terms of its impact on the environment and its implications for local population, is not limited to Pakistan and the sector has been at the centre of much heated debate and resulting in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiaive, a global call for action for responsible practices, established in 2003 and which outlines a set of principles for the industry to follow. Pakistan, despite its sizeable sector, is not a part of the EITI and it's about time that it should.

The Continuing Struggle of Pollution Control in Tanneries

Despite earnest efforts by the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA), the battle against pollution caused by discharge of untreated effluents continues. With over 1200 tanneries employing nearly 200,000 people and contributing 7% of total exports, the leather industry is an important sector of the economy. However, outdated equipment and production techniques, lack of access to solid waste disposal sites, low investments in affluent treatment plants and poor coordination between the private sector and the city, provincial and federal governments have resulted in continued pollution.

The PTA has made several suggestions, including waiver of Export Development Surcharge on treatment plants, provision of landfill sites and support in access to technical and financial resources, but progress has been slow. However, there is a silver lining to the cloud, with functional treatment plants in Karachi's Industrial Trading Estate (KITE), Kasur and Sialkot and the adoption of cleaner production technologies with help from UNIDO and the Netherlands government, helping reduce environmental pollution. Furthermore, as reported today, the development of a special zone in Sialkot on a public private partnership basis, will bring all tanneries into a spatially contiguous area and allow for common services for treatment and disposal of effluents.

eWaste, anyone?

Technological innovations and planned obsolescence in the electronic industry in general and the computing industry in particular have an unwanted outcome: accumulation of old, discarded and outdated equipment, otherwise known as e-Waste. Developing countries are often used as dumping grounds for this e-waste and Pakistan is no different. According to the IUCN, import of second hand computers adds to the 50,000 tonnes of solid waste generated in the country every day. These concerns echoed again at a recent discussion organised in Islamabad on 'Cost effective or technology defective’ where speakers from both public and private sectors emphasised the need to dig deeper in to the dumping carried on in the garb of bridging the digital divide.

Some 500,000 old computers are imported into the country, mainly from the US, EU and Singapore. Although Pakistan is a signatory to the Basel Convention on eWaste--initiated in response to numerous international scandals regarding hazardous waste trafficking that began to occur in the late 1980s--the import of these old computers as well as phones, TVs etc. continues, adding to the environmental hazards faced by the country.

Greenpeace did an interesting photo-essay on eWaste in Pakistan, where they tracked what happens to eWaste in Lyari in Karachi. You can view the photo-essay here. There are several other sites such as Lyari across Pakistan, particularly in Lahore, where such hazardous activities are going unabated and unchecked. The Federal and Provincial Environmental Agencies appear to be woefully incapable of addressing this issue. On the flipside, the livelihoods of thousands of people are linked to this work and one is not sure of the impact any regulatory move would have on these jobs.

My own view on this is that while eWaste is definitely an issue and the Pakistani government as well as the companies in the developed countries themselves need to assume greater responsibility, an argument could be made to avoid a complete crackdown on this flourishing informal sector activity. The Pakistani government could develop and enforce minimum safety standards, and help sustain jobs in this recycling industry, while the governments in the developed world should ensure that companies in their respective countries follow the Basel Convention!

And lastly, here's an updated status on which companies are acting responsibly as regards eWaste.

Green Accounting for Staying Out of the Red

With the UNDP estimating that environmental degradation costing Pakistan over Rs. 350b every year, the need for following green agendas is self-evident. At a recent workshop, experts suggested the introduction of 'green accounting' frameworks to calculate the costs of environmental depletion. The WWF agrees with earlier assessments that the costs of environmental degradation are as high as 6% of the GDP and needs a concerted mix of fiscal, monetary and managerial steps to reduce these costs. Businesses often tend to ignore or underestimate such costs but as was clearly indicated by speakers at the event, it's time their books stay in the green in the more ways than one.

Promoting Environment Protection

Two good pieces of news have emerged from the government side. First, there is a commitment to introduce environment as part of curriculum in public schools. The Ministry of Environment announced recently that it would collaborate with the Ministry of Education to include environment as a subject, helping raise awareness in youth. This is indeed a welcome initiative. The government agencies would be well advised however, to include civil society organisations, most notably the Book Group, which have established expertise in alternative textbooks and teaching resources, mainly with funding from corporate entities as part of their CSR initiatives.

The second encouraging news relates to plans to introduce Euro-II emission standards for petrol driven vehicles from July this year and for diesel driven automobiles from July 2012. As reported in the press, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources will have to ensure availability of Euro-II compliant diesel with low sulphur, by January 2012. This move also ties in with the government's plans to reduce air pollution and promoting the use of CNG-run vehicles, including the introduction of 8,000 CNG buses in major cities of the country.

Alleged Industrial Toxic Waste Claims Another Victim

An 8 year old boy apparently fell prey to the devastating effects of industrial toxic waste dumped in an open area, in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate in Karachi, Pakistan's business and financial hub. As reported in the daily Dawn, the boy was playing cricket with friends and suffered severe burns due to exposure to the toxic waste. The newspaper further reports that the local police are reluctant to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) which is the first step towards further legal action in the matter. Ironically, this case echoes a similar incident about 2 years ago, in the same area, resulting in the death of a boy and injuries to 20 others.

Meanwhile, residents of Hyderabad city, Pakistan's sixth largest city, have been protesting about the contamination in their drinking water, including pollution from untreated industrial effluents dumped in the drinking water source by various factories.

Clearly, these events point to both gross and blatant disregard for environmental sustainability as well as to the apathy of the regulators to a situation that needs to be dealt with urgency and resolve in equal measure. To be fair to the business community, strict international environmental standards as well as embracing of CSR principles have led some export-oriented industrial sectors to adopt more efficient and cleaner production mechanisms, but these efforts have been sporadic and with government support tending to be inadequate in its scope and slow in its execution, the problem of industrial pollution is largely unresolved.

Just recently, the Pakistan Tanners Association, reiterated its demand for solid waste disposal sites. The tanneries, as you may recall, have been amongst the worst offenders vis a vis industrial pollution and have been under severe community and buyer-led pressure to clean up their act. Some success has been achieved in this respect, notably under the Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project, but clearly a lot still needs to be done.

Will the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency exercise its powers in this latest instance of industrial pollution impacting local communities, or will inaction again overwhelm responsibility?

Pakistan Fuels Its Enthusiasm for 'Green' Transport

As reported in the local press, some 7000-8000 vehicles in Pakistan are switching to use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) every month, while another 3000 new, factory fitted CNG cars will roll out in coming months. At this rate, the number of CNG powered vehicles will top 1.4 million by the end of the current fiscal year, helping Pakistan zip past Brazil in the number two position, with only Argentina in the lead with over 1.65 million vehicles--and counting--as reported by the International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles (IANGV). These figures are corroborated by the recently released Economic Survey of Pakistan, which notes that the number of CNG vehicles has jumped from 280,000 in 2001 to the current high of nearly 1.4m. The survey also reveals that from a mere 62 filling stations in 1999, there are now over 1400 filling stations in Pakistan. The CNG Station Owners Association claims that investment in the sector exceeds Rs. 46 billion, while the Government places a Rs.60b tag on investment in the sector, leading to creating 60,000 new jobs. With 5,700 more provisional licenses issued by Pakistan's Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), the investment figures and impact on the economy is only headed one way: up.

CNG is widely considered to be a cleaner fuel than petrol and diesel and cheaper to boot. Hence its popularity in developing nations. In fact, the statistics gathered by IANGV make an interesting read: the USA has less than 150,000 CNG vehicles, as compared to 292,000 in Iran and 410,000 in Italy. With all the talk about reducing carbon emissions, hybrid vehicles and environment-friendly public transport, the developed world could take its cue from the developing world. Even in the public transport arena, the South Asian countries in particular are streets ahead, with metropolis like New Delhi--where the Delhi Transport Company runs the world's largest fleet of CNG buses--Karachi, Lahore and Dhaka already promoting and implementing policies that call for a switch to CNG powered public transport systems.

While CNG may not be the perfect green transport solution--in fact it's not 'green' in the strictest sense of the term--till such time as Hydrogen or electric vehicles become commercially available and affordable--and till such time as our developing world urban planning allows us to squeeze in more pedestrian space or cycle tracks, it may be the most practical and environment-friendly option. I am watching with keen interest though, developments in the Philippines, where the electric jeepney project has just hit the road and which may open up new avenues for green public transport systems everywhere.